Whether your company is small and developing or large and expanding, the team you choose determines your success. And whether you’re a small business owner in the process of your first time hire or looking for new candidates to create a new department in your company, you need to be careful about who you offer the job too.
While tertiary education, experience and good references are all necessary when choosing the perfect candidate you also need to look at personality.
Being a good judge of character doesn’t come naturally to everyone. However, as a leader you must nurture those skills and refine them so you can pick a keeper from the crowd of applicants.
There are some unique traits to look out for during the interview process and if you can’t spot them immediately then ask about them.
Here are the three types of personalities you definitely want in your company and the questions to ask in the interview to gauge whether the prospective candidate possesses the qualities you’re after.
1The self-starter
This individual will have a similar outlook to you. They’re motivated and are striving for success without the guidance or direction of an external party.
This is the type of character who doesn’t need constant supervision, they’re determined to succeed by themselves regardless of the rest of the team.
They’re often a game-changer who will easily strategise new ways of doing things and want to be involved in just about every aspect of the business. They probably view themselves as a business owner in the future.
Your business will benefit from having this personality type around as they have a “get stuff done” attitude and will motivate their colleagues to behave similarly.
Interview question: What other departments would be of interest to you in this company?
2The smiley sunshiny happy face
This is the person who brims with positivity. They are the literal opposite of your worst employee who never stops complaining.
They find happiness in their daily reality and they’re contagious to the rest of your staff members. Their only disruption is to spread some more good news. Sometimes these folk are particularly sensitive and may take offense to the “lemons” in the office but because of their happy demeanour they usually bounce back rather quickly.
It’s easy to understand why you’d like someone like this in your business. They’ll probably shine in a role that requires client interfacing and if their skillset is up to scratch they might make a good team lead or manager. This personality type is one to nurture.
Interview question: Do you have any quirks or talents that make you stand out in the office environment?
3The slightly obsessive organiser
This personality is not going to be the most popular. Especially if your company has a creative culture. However, they won’t be popular until they’re needed.
Your “organiser” team member will be asked for everything eventually and the best thing about them is that they’ll definitely have the answer or have a solution on hand.
They’ll have filed all the important documents that everyone thought had become scrap paper, they’ll have the elusive pair of scissors everyone always needs but never has and they’ll fix all the problems as best they can.
How’s your staff’s time management? If you give the organiser a leading role they’ll have that sorted. These guys are all for processes and systems. They literally get a kick out of checklists and time stamps.
Interview question: What software and systems have you worked with before and which did you prefer?